On May 19, the National Park Service (NPS) awarded the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial nearly $183,000, covering two-thirds of the total cost to design and install an educational wall at the memorial.

“During World War II, the first Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps from Eagledale Ferry Dock on Bainbridge Island. It is important to preserve and interpret this site’s significance as an important part of our state and national history,” Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell said. “We must continue to remember the injustices suffered by Japanese Americans and learn from this dark chapter in American history. The educational installation funded in part by this grant will ensure that stories of thousands are not silenced, but rather passed on for future generations.”

The educational installation is the latest phase in the $9 million memorial project. The 227-foot stone and cedar wall will tell the story of the 227 Bainbridge residents of Japanese ancestry who were rounded up and sent to internment camps in California and Idaho. In all, 12,892 residents from Washington state were sent to detainment camps.

The grant was part of $3 million awarded by the National Park Service to fund 20 projects in a dozen states. Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program in 2006 to preserve and interpret the locations where Japanese Americans were incarcerated after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. ♦